STATE OF NEW JERSEY
214th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ELEASE EVANS
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires owner to immediately report loss or theft of firearm to police.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning the loss or theft of a firearm and supplementing chapter 58 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The legal owner of a firearm, immediately upon discovering that the firearm is lost or stolen, shall report the loss or theft to the chief law enforcement officer of the municipality in which the loss or theft occurred or, if the municipality does not have a local police force, the Superintendent of State Police.
If the lost or stolen firearm is used in the commission of a crime, the legal owner of the lost or stolen firearm shall not be civilly liable for any damages resulting from that crime if the legal owner complied with the reporting requirements of this section.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the legal owner of a firearm to report the loss or theft of that firearm to the chief law enforcement officer of the municipality in which the theft occurred or, if the municipality does not have a local police force, the Superintendent of State Police. The report must be made immediately upon discovering that loss or theft.
The bill specifies that the legal owner of a lost or stolen firearm will not be civilly liable for any damages resulting from a crime in which the lost or stolen firearm was used if the legal owner complied with the bill’s reporting requirement.